July 5

NOTE:  This is a reprint from last year.  Due to a family situation, I did not have time to update it for this season.  This will be true for the next few days.  Thank you for understanding.

Jack Farrell (1857)
Robert Brown (1876)
Charles Stoneham (1876)
Bump Hadley (1904)
Jack Krol (1936)
Curt Blefary (1943)
Gary Matthews (1950)
Rich Gossage (1951)
Dave Eiland (1966)
Tim Worrell (1967)
Jesse Crain (1981)

Right-handed reliever Jesse Crain has played for the Twins since 2004.  He was born in Toronto, went to high school in Boulder, Colorado, and then attended the University of Houston.  He was drafted by Minnesota in the second round in 2002.  A reliever throughout his career, he had some tremendous seasons in the minors, posting a minor league career ERA of 2.00 and a WHIP of 0.94 in 180 minor league innings.  He was called up to the Twins in August of 2004, and with a brief exception has been there ever since.  He was very good through 2006, although his ERA and his WHIP went up every year.  In 2007, he started poorly, was injured, missed most of the season, and has not been as good since.  He was decent, but no more, in 2008, but had a bad year in 2009, going back to AAA Rochester for a little over a month.  The demotion may have done him some good, as he pitched much better when he was brought back.  He got off to a rough start in 2010, but eventually righted the ship and had a pretty good season.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with the White Sox, for whom he pitched well in 2011 and continues to pitch well in 2012.  As a Twin, Jesse Crain was  33-21, 3.42, with a 1.26 WHIP and three saves.  He appeared in 376 games, pitching 382 innings.  He’s 31 today.  The life of a set-up man tends to be tenuous at best, but it seems likely that Jesse Crain will be pitching somewhere for at least a few more years yet.